The Pan Am Podcast

Experience the legacy of the world’s most iconic airline, Pan American World Airways! This award-winning history and humanities program brings Pan Am’s 64-year history to life through engaging storytelling and insightful interviews from Pan Am employees, passengers, historians, authors, fashionistas, and aviation enthusiasts! Hosted by historian Tom Betti, the program has won the following awards: Platinum 2025, Gold 2024 & 2023, Silver 2022 - Muse Creative Awards; Platinum 2025, Gold 2024, Silver 2023, Arcturus 2022 - Vega Digital Awards; Gold Award from the 2023 Hear Now Palooza of the National Audio Theater Festivals; and Arcturus 2022 Vega Digital Award (Best Host). The Pan Am Podcast is brought to you by the Pan Am Museum in Garden City, New York and is sponsored by the generous personal support of Mr. Adam Aron, CEO of AMC Theatres and President of the Pan Am Historical Foundation. The Pan Am Museum Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization and would appreciate your consideration of tax-deductible donations to support our work.

Podcasting since 2021 • 64 episodes

The Pan Am Podcast

Latest Episodes

Episode 64: The Best Job We Ever Had with Florette Vassall and Diane Krumholtz Lyras

In this episode, we are joined by two women who gave the best years of their careers to Pan American World Airways, and who have remained close friends for more than four decades since the airline closed its doors.Florette H. Vassall was...

May 21, 2026 • Season 5 • Episode 64 • 1:11:45

Episode 63: Operation Babylift: Carried Home and the Bonds That Endure

In this episode, host Tom Betti is joined by three special guests - Pan Am flight attendant Karen Walker Ryan and adoptees Carol Mason and Dr. Matt Steiner - to mark the 51st anniversary of Operation Babylift, the frantic evacuation ordered by ...

April 19, 2026 • Season 5 • Episode 63 • 1:39:44

Episode 62: Pan Am and the Art of Storytelling with Al Gilbert

In this episode, we are joined by Al Gilbert, known by his friends and family as Ace, a former Pan Am reservations employee and the author of

April 08, 2026 • Season 5 • Episode 62 • 1:04:34

Episode 61: The Aviator and the Showman - Amelia Earhart and Pan Am with Laurie Gwen Shapiro

In this episode, we are joined by Laurie Gwen Shapiro, a bestselling author, journalist, and adjunct professor at NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. A member of the Explorers Cl...

March 22, 2026 • Season 5 • Episode 61 • 2:00:09

Episode 60: Cheryl Boone Isaacs – A Journey from Pan Am Stewardess to Hollywood Leadership

In this episode, we are joined by Cheryl Boone Isaacs, a former Pan Am stewardess from 1972 to 1974 who went on to build an extraordinary career in Hollywood. Her journey is a remarkable one that spans aviation, Hollywood, and film ...

February 01, 2026 • Season 5 • Episode 60 • 2:05:04

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Fan Mail

Hi, this is hi, this is the message for Tom Betty. Tom, this is Todd Scudieri. Um, I'm a huge fan of this podcast. I really want to thank you for putting this together and all the episodes that you've done. And I wish you all the best for your future endeavors. Um, my journey with Pan Am began as a teenager in the 1980s. I grew up in Albany. I went to New York City to the Pan Am building. I was obsessed with travel. Um, I went to India when I was 18, 1989. I took Pan Am. And then I went to school in Hawaii and I took Pan Am 747 um back and forth from New York. And um, I became a flight attendant for Northwest for a few years. And uh it just it just was been such a huge part of um of my life of travel and uh and just wanderlust and dreaming. And to this day, I I think about it and um and I still I'm obsessed with it. So um anyway, thank you so much. And um, I can't wait to visit the museum. I've never been there. I live in California right now. All the best to you.